A WOMAN killed by her husband after she told him to leave had more than 60 injuries, consistent with someone defending themselves, Bristol Crown Court heard this week.

Stephen Hotson has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Julie Tottle within a five day period in July, claiming that he is guilty of manslaughter and not murder due to his state of mind, pleading diminished responsibility.

The defence claims Hotson was clinically depressed, causing him an ‘abnormality of the mind’ that impaired his ability to exercise self-control.

Adam Vaitlingham QC, prosecuting at Bristol Crown Court, said that 45-year-old Hotson and his wife Julie had had a heated argument at their home in Crookes Lane, Kewstoke, in which she told him ‘it was over’.

It is claimed Hotson then ‘flew into a fit of rage’ and picked up a vacuum cleaner pipe and hit her on the head repeatedly with it.